On-screen.
Sssht.
Blood sprayed like a burst of petals as the lady knight’s golden blade flashed through a body like lightning through rain.
Across the snowfield, a half-dead mage tried to Blink like a frightened sparrow, but “Countess Liadryn” charged like a storm and slammed her shield, stunning him mid-flight.
Then her sword rose and fell like a guillotine moon.
The lost mage crumpled like a wilted leaf.
[Hey, you.]
Off-screen.
The little girl’s hands danced like wind over water, her lady knight carving a path through a tide of players, while her voice to Ye Weibai snapped like a twig without turning back:
[From now on, come here at this hour on weekends.]
Ye Weibai lounged like a cat in sun, lazy as smoke: [...For what?]
[I want to play “Wind Continent”.]
[And then?]
[I—I don’t have an ID card.]
[Then play at home.]
She pressed her lips like a tight bud: [Home—home doesn’t work.]
[Then beg me.]
[Ha? Why should I beg you! Don’t be ridiculous! I’m Liadryn!]
She bristled like a little hedgehog, but her fingers flew like arrows; a Charge and a Shield Bash, and an enemy priest fell like a toppled pine.
Ye Weibai didn’t rise, his smile warm as spring: [Oh? Then forget it.]
[Hmph, hmph. Then I’ll grant you this chance—ah, no, don’t power off, don’t power off, I’m still doing the daily battleground—ahhhh, don’t power off—]
[So what’s the correct answer?] Ye Weibai pressed one hand to the power button like a hawk’s talon and glanced down at Ruan Lin with sunlight in his grin.
[D-damn it...]
[What?] Ye Weibai’s eyes narrowed like dusk clouds.
[S-sorry! I mean—please, please—ah, don’t shut it off! Ah! My Liadryn!—I’m begging you already!]
[Ah, sorry, slippery fingers...]
[Demon! You’re a demon!]
...
“You know what I just remembered?”
“Ah, mm?”
It was minutes before the film bloomed, air thick as ink before dawn.
The theater lay dark as a lake at night.
Ye Weibai and Ruan Lin sat waiting, still as stones in riverlight. He looked at Ruan Lin hugging a popcorn tub bigger than her head, eyes glued to ads shimmering like fireflies, and suddenly he laughed like a bell in fog.
“It’s nothing. I just remembered your first declaration, wild as thunder—‘I’m Lady Knight Liadryn!’”
Ruan Lin turned with a soft blink like a startled deer, then flushed crimson like sunset: Enough—enough already! We agreed to forget it!
“That would be a waste. That heroic posture was a once-in-a-lifetime sunrise.”
“Seriously! Xia—Xiaobai, you’re so mean today—feels like you’re using a lifetime of mischief on me.”
A… a lifetime, huh...
His smile faltered like a candle in wind.
She didn’t notice; she sulked and shoveled popcorn like acorns, cheeks puffed like steamed buns, moving in tiny hops.
Ye Weibai stared, dazed, then his mouth curved again like a crescent moon.
Heaven. This adorable creature—she’s my girlfriend.
A warm urge rose like spring tide.
To tease her again like tapping a wine glass.
To hug her small soft body like cradling warm bread.
To watch her face redden till it steams like a kettle.
To see that helpless-about-to-cry look like rain before it falls.
As expected—
His smile folded, he turned away, lashes drooping like moth wings, hiding the tide inside his eyes.
As expected, I really don’t want to die.
“Xiaobai… what’s wrong?” Ruan Lin sensed his quiet and poked his arm like a shy sparrow pecking grain.
“No, nothing.” He lifted his head; the shadow cleared like a cloud lifting, his grin bright as noon.
“The movie’s starting.”
In the theater.
On the screen, solemn music rolled like mountains moving.
A vast shadow swept the land like storm-wings.
A dragon flew across the sky like a living comet.
...
In the private booth.
A dragon soared over castle spires like a ruby kite.
Red fireworks bloomed across the sky like peonies aflame.
[Xiaobai! Xiaobai! Log in! Log in!]
The girl, handing in quests as Lady Knight Liadryn, bounced with excitement like a chick on hot sand.
Beside her, at another PC, Ye Weibai sat like a prisoner at his desk, suffering the word mill like grinding stones.
[Why?]
[It’s Edgassa! The Red Dragon, Edgassa!]
[And who’s that?]
Ruan Lin shot Ye Weibai a glare sharp as an icicle: My god! You’ve played this long and still don’t know the Top Fifty world bosses in “Wind Continent”!
Ye Weibai looked innocent like a sheep: ...Fifty’s too many; who remembers that? If you’re ranking, five’s enough. Fifty is insane!
[It’s fifty because only those fifty can drop epic gear! Enough talk, log in, log in!]
[Okay, okay, I get it; stop shaking my hand.]
[Hurry! I’ll chase the path she flew. Hurry! Hurry! She’s getting away!]
[Stop shaking my hand!]
Ye Weibai’s arm felt like it would rattle apart; impatience snapped like a twig, and he chopped a hand-knife on the excited girl’s forehead like a falling chopstick.
[Ow!]
Ruan Lin clutched her brow with watery eyes like morning dew.
[Good, so you know it hurts.] Ye Weibai ignored her man-eating glare, lazy as smoke: Look, I’m in… Huh?! Why am I dead on login?
[Speaking of… what’s that?]
He pointed at the greyed-out screen like showing ash.
On the snow-peak, a male elf rogue’s corpse lay like a broken doll.
Beside it, a scarlet dragon lazily retracted her foreclaws like a cat satisfied.
[Uh… that’s her—the red dragon, Edgassa.]
[So—I got one-shot by her?]
As if hearing him, the dragon on-screen turned her head like a tide shifting. She stood on a mountain crown, vast crimson wings unfurled like storm-sails, fire raining from the air like molten rain. Her massive head faced the glass like a living cliff, jaws yawning like a furnace, a roar rolling in dragon-tongue like thunder unbound.
From the speakers burst her line, dripping contempt like acid.
[You’re all—trash!]
Her roar struck like a typhoon.
Snow whirled, leaves flew; the mountain trembled like a drumskin.
[It appeared! It appeared! The red dragon’s classic line! So—so cool! So—ow!]
Ruan Lin, mid-flail, looked up with tears shimmering like pearls: Why did you hit me again!
Hand-knife withdrawn, Ye Weibai’s smile tilted like a fox’s: Heh. Trash, huh… first time I’ve been called that—this time I’ll gut you—just a mere beast!
[Are you mad at that?! She’s a dragon!] Ruan Lin’s eyes widened like lanterns.
—And a game boss...
An hour later.
[Xiaobai… don’t go up again. You can’t beat it… ah…]
She watched another grey screen with despair like snow piling.
They’d died countless times since an hour ago, bodies like scattered chess pieces.
Not just Ye Weibai; many players kept tossing themselves like leaves into fire. But only Ye Weibai burned stubbornly like an ember that wouldn’t die. Even Ruan Lin, who’d shouted about slaying a dragon for artifacts, quit after losing a level like a feather plucked.
[No wonder this boss still lives fat and happy… The legend about a top team killing her—maybe it’s just smoke?]
On-screen.
The boss just stood, still as a statue, and with a mouth’s twitch or a hand’s lift, town portals chimed like rain.
Ye Weibai had already dropped two levels like stones; he pushed on, teeth clenched like a blade.
Suddenly, a deeper roar tore the sky like a canyon opening.
A male dragon’s roar—this blast froze every player mid-sprint like icicles.
Ruan Lin stared, eyes glassing as a massive shadow moved from the horizon like a black tide, larger than the red dragon by a whole mountain’s weight.
[It’s—Deathwing! Deathwing!!!]
No wonder the red dragon didn’t take real damage; this was a story mode storm. She wasn’t meant to fall; she was here to meet Deathwing. The infamous Deathwing—legend said killing him would blow your whole inventory like a chest exploding.
Deathwing’s name was thunder not to be wasted; beyond his level and skills, he would make any player he killed drop everything—bag and gear spilling like a gutted fish.
True fear crawled like frost.
Players panicked and fled down the mountain like birds flushed by fire—charging, blinking, shifting like wind-tossed seeds.
Only one small elf rogue ran against the current like a stream climbing rock.
It was Ye Weibai.
[X—Xiaobai! Don’t go up! He’ll blow all your gear!]
Ye Weibai’s eyes burned like coals; he heard nothing but the drum in his chest.
[You dare call me trash!]
[You dare kill me this many times!]
[You dare jam my writing!]
[You dare make my novel barely read!]
[I swear my story’s fun; why so few collections and comments… damn it! This is all your fault!]
Ruan Lin watched him, heart thumping like a rabbit: Xia—Xiaobai’s broken...
Against dragon-will and gale, blizzard slapped his face like stones.
In every player’s view from below:
A black-cloaked elf rogue traced flawless steps like a dancer in shadow, slipping past pools of dragonfire like hopscotch on coals.
He ran over corpses and glittering gear like a thief on a battlefield.
He slipped close to the red dragon.
At that moment, Edgassa lifted her head like a queen. Her eyes, crystal-frozen, cracked like ice under dawn, a flicker of softness blooming like a thaw.
[You finally came.]
Deathwing’s voice rolled like torn hurricane and heavy thunder: Yes, I came. Today I’ll take you back to the Peak of Dragons.
[Your kin won’t accept me.]
[Then I’ll kill until they do.]
Edgassa’s lips drew back, a dragon’s smile like a crescent scar: I may die.
[Then I’ll die before you.]
[Fine. I’ll go with you.]
[No—before that, I have something for you… It’s—according to human marriage rites—the Heart of Nature I stole from the demigod Sevilas, forged as an engagement ring—]
Deathwing reached into the Void like pulling light from a night river—an object gleamed like a star. It looked like a diamond ring, bright as frost on crystal.
Down the slopes, players who knew the Dragon Chronicle of Wind Continent were moved like listeners at a tragic opera, tears warm as rain.
Ding.
The whole continent knew the sound and hated it like a mosquito at midnight—“Rogue theft successful.”
In the booth.
Ye Weibai’s speakers chimed: [You successfully stole Deathwing’s engagement ring—Heart of Nature.]
[X—X—X—X—Xiaobai?!]
The mountain fell silent like a held breath.
Not just players; even wind and snow paused like dancers caught mid-turn.
A huge fear spread like ink in water.
The next moment, a roar shattered ears like glass:
[Human!!!!!!!!!!!]
Deathwing spread his wings like continents opening.
Final skill—[World’s End]—unfurled in an instant like a black flower.
The Void shattered, the sky cracked like dry clay!
The Void turned ink-dark; white snow blackened like burnt sugar; white mountains slid into nauseating sludge like tar.
Black fire poured from the sky like a reversed waterfall!
The whole World went pitch black like a closed eye.
One lick of that black flame, and Ye Weibai would die without a grave—his gear exploding like a chest of coins—everything gone.
But before that—[Bye-bye~]
Typing like raindrops, Ye Weibai sprinted and headbutted the stunned red dragon’s foot like a tiny ram into a boulder.
[—You have been slain by the Red Dragon.]
Then… he ported home free like a gull riding wind.
He left Deathwing with a sea of rage crashing with no shore.
And the innocent other players, wide-eyed like fish.
W—what kind of joke is this?!
【My—my ring!】
【Where did you hide my ring?!】
【Hu-humans! Damn humans!!! Damn humans!!!!!!!】
【Damn humans—aaah!】
It roared, rage like volcanic thunder.
Deathwing beat its wings and surged skyward.
Up in the cold heights, it halted.
A black meteor of fire hung above the world.
Its gaze was frost, fixed on the players at the mountain’s foot.
The dragon spat the line that made half a continent shudder.
【You—all—will—die!】
Then shadow drowned the whole range.
In that instant, a cold tide of fear returned—fear of Deathwing’s rule.
After that day, the top combat power on Wind Continent fell by one Level on average.
Gear exploded into drops, glittering like shattered stars.
...
...
